Listening In

                                    

                                          
Jay didn't really want to go back to Evie and Carlos, so instead, he decided he'd help Mal and Jackson with the fence. He had empty buckets that he had been filled with feed, that the removed the screws out of as Mal and Jackson threw them into the pile. He texted Ben and told him to take the rest of the group in the house, and to ask Jonathan for the assigned spots to stay in, and get dinner. Ben replied back and Jay shut his phone off and put it in the console of his side by side. The three of them worked on the fence for 5 hours straight, knocking out pieces of the wood in just the correct way to reuse the wood again. Jay was taking out all the screws and putting the wood in the bed of all three side by sides. By the end of 5 hours, it was dark outside, and they had only a fourth of the fence taken down from one pasture. They had 6 pastures of fence to take down. "This is going to take a lot more wood than we already have." Jackson pointed out and Mal nodded. 
                          
They put their tools in the bed of their side by sides before taking off for the ranch again. They clipped on their headlights to keep working. They unloaded all the wood into the shed by the house for firewood. They parked the side by sides and Mal and Jackson insisted that Jay go into the house while they went out and checked on all the livestock. Jay didn't go until Jackson had gone into the barn to get his and Mal's horses, when Mal grabbed him and kisses him long and hard. "Go, otherwise that'll be your last kiss for a month." Mal threatened and Jay groaned before going into the house. "Where's Jackson and Malonia?" Jonathan asked when Jay got into the house. "They went out to check on the livestock. They forced me to come inside." Jay said grabbing a Budweiser out of the fridge and popping the tab. "Where are the evil fiends?" Jay asked sitting down on one of the couches. 
                          
"Upstairs, obsessing over the kid." Jonathan replied turning the fan on. "Great. When I finally thought my life was getting somewhere, my ex-girlfriend has to show up and try to get me to take her back. As if I would after what she did." Jay said taking a swig of his beer. "What did she do?" Jonathan asked leaning back against the pillows. "Back when Mal was dating Carlos and I was dating Evie, the two of them snuck behind our backs and slept together, and Evie got pregnant. That kid she has is the result of them being stupid, and now they're sad and miserable because they made a bad mistake, and we aren't there anymore. I love Mal, and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I love running the ranch, and Colorado. No matter what, I'm not leaving to just back to a dump of a place where all havoc breaks loose and no one follows rules." Jay said and Jonathan nodded. While Jonathan and Jay were talking, Evie and Carlos had snuck downstairs to listen in. 
                          
About 20 minutes passed and Mal and Jackson came into the house, locking the ranch house doors behind them. Jackson asked Mal something and she nodded. Jackson grabbed a beer out of the fridge too and Mal joined Jay on the couch, and Jackson next to his dad. "My boys, all with beer in the same exact hand." Mal said. All three of them grinned at her, and Jay wrapped his arm around Mal's waist. "I can't wait to see what their reactions will be when the rooster crows at 5 in the morning." Jay said and they all laughed. "How are the livestock?" Jonathan asked and Mal said, "Great. We got to get that fence put in soon before the holes from the posts fill up and are hard to maneuver new poles in." "You planning on getting Elena or anyone else to help?" Jonathan asked. "I think that Mark and Peter would be good to help. Peter's good with a screwdriver and Mark is good at being fast and precise." Mal said and Jay nodded. 
                          
"We've already got them coming straight to pasture A as soon as they get here. Jackie, do you think Elena would want to help too?" Mal asked. "I don't know. She likes sticking the animals more." Jackson said and Mal nodded. Jay finished his can of beer and stood up. Mal saw him go over to the fridge and she went over and reached her hand out to grab his before he got to the beer. "But..." Jay whined. "Jay, no. Come on, we need you to not be throwing up the entire morning." Mal said and Jay agreed to go back over to the couch. Evie and Carlos scampered back upstairs as they saw the four adults coming towards the stairs. Evie and Carlos watched from a crack in their bedroom door for Mal and Jay. Mal hugged Jackson and her dad goodnight, before going into her bedroom beside Jay. 
                          
They shut the door, and Evie almost burst out crying from all the 'pain' she was going through. She regretted cheating on Jay like that, but she felt like some of it was his fault too. He was always outside, constantly playing Tourney, lifting weights, always exercising. She had even caught Jay teaching a whole group of kids how to play a game called Isle Style with Mal. Isle Style was the only popular game from the Isle of the Lost that was a cross between volleyball, soccer, tennis, and baseball/softball. It takes two players, and each play holds a bat, either metal or wooden, and you hit the ball back and forth. You serve it like you serve a tennis ball, and you can hit it like a soccer ball, or like a volleyball. 
                          
Evie remembered getting mad at Jay because he had been showing a whole bunch of girls how to do parkour moves. She hadn't gotten mad until she saw Jay putting his hands around Mal's waist to spot her for her back/side flip. Jay had told her she was crazy for assuming that anything happened between the two, and Evie had gotten revenge on him by sleeping with Carlos. Evie wished she hadn't been like that. Jay didn't love Mal in that way, until now, because of her and Carlos. If she would've trusted Jay, she would probably be married to him, living in Auradon with her happily ever after and her castle.